


AC19 Day 12: Maybe The Real Treasure Was The Friendship We Made Along The Way

by The_Rose



Series: Rose's Advent Calendar 2019 [12]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Freehold, I mention a lot of the Crews that you can fight during the expeditions, Island expeditions, Not really meant to be shippy but honestly you can if you want, That friendship seemed so obvious to me that I had to share it with everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21773044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Rose/pseuds/The_Rose
Summary: One day, Flynn Fairwind successfully taunted Captain Rez'okun of the Zandalari and since, the two men are trying to show the other who is the best.
Relationships: Flynn Fairwind & Rez'okun
Series: Rose's Advent Calendar 2019 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559185
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	AC19 Day 12: Maybe The Real Treasure Was The Friendship We Made Along The Way

**Author's Note:**

> Second of the three not Illidan/Maiev fic.
> 
> This time, we'll go and see a friendship so obvious that I (personally) saw no one talking about it x)   
> Well, enjoy !

The sea was calm and the sound of a raging fight was coming from the island.

Looking at the detector on the ship, Captain Rez’okun was talking into the little communicator the Goblins created to talk with his daily crew of adventurers ready to kill and die for a few rocks. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted the Alliance’s boat, docked so close from them that he could see the people on it. That day, they had no choice but to get really close to each other as the tides were making it impossible to stop anywhere else to safely land on the island. Thankfully, they had an unspoken rule that, until one of them decides to attack, the other wouldn’t retaliate, so they were just keeping each other in sight and had nothing else to do but wait for their respective crew.

As Rez’okun heard once again one of the blood elves complaining about the gnome, he put the communicator away, checking on the environment to be sure that no one else was trying to invade the island after the Vrykuls from earlier. As he looked around, checking for anything strange, he locked his eyes on the Alliance’s ship at the exact moment their captain looked back, and they were close enough so he saw him smile as he began to wave at him. Raising an eyebrow, the Zandalari slowly put his hand up and barely moved it but it was enough to make the human laugh and turn to the other human with him, reaching his hand as he saw money being exchanged. Probably a bet the captain had just won.

The troll shook his head at the idea of how childish the human could be and grabbed back the communicator as he realized that his ship was almost full of Azerite.

“We are almost done. You are doing well!” he warned his crew of Sin’dorei.

He heard them cheer, before being interrupted by the laugh of what seemed to be a female gnome, and they were back to fighting the Alliance’s crew. But as he was once again checking the horizon to be sure there wouldn’t be any more threat, he saw the captain of the other ship making signs towards him, this time as if he was asking him to go to the extremity of the boat to be close enough to hear him. Perfectly knowing that they couldn’t attack him without getting the entire ship’s crew on their back, Rez’okun decided to accept the proposition, knowing that at worst, he was allowing the human to win more golds.

“Sorry to bother,” laughed the human now that they were at hearing range from each other. “But I was wondering if it’s always you on this ship?”

“It’s my ship,” simply retorted the troll. “No one else than me can navigate it.”

“Alright, alright,” kept laughing the human, smirking even.

“I don’t see what’s so funny.”

“Oh, it’s simple,” he explained with a bigger smile. “We won once again.”

With those words, he showed him the three Alliance’s members, two dwarfs, and a gnome, as they ran back to the ship with the last pieces of Azerite they needed. Quickly, Rez’okun took his communicator and heard his own crew battling what seemed to be a giant made of rocks as they cursed out loud. They couldn’t beat the Alliance that day.

“Better luck next time,” kept laughing Flynn. “See ya!”

And with those words, the Alliance’s ship began to slowly move away until its veils disappeared behind the horizon. The Zandalari simply sighed and called back the elves to the ship, it was useless to keep trying for that day.

“Got about half the ship left to fill. Keep your eyes sharp!”

A good week had passed since they got defeated and almost mocked by the Alliance, and this time, Rez’okun had been clear with his crew, they would either be the first one to leave with a ship full of azerite, or the three others Zandalari would go back to Zandalar by themselves. Apparently, the fear that the captain would follow through his threat had been enough to motivate them to fill the ship. They were running everywhere, ambushing the Lightforged Draenei when they were too close and then, mining and bringing back every single little azerite rocks they could find. From what he could see, the Alliance was barely starting when they were already half-full. Rez’okun couldn’t wait to see the face of the human when they would leave before them.

Finally, he saw his crew coming back running with what was left of azerite and he didn’t even try to hide his smile. As they got back on the ship, he congratulated them all and made signs to his second to start moving the ship around.

“We are done! Ay, take a few shots at that Alliance ship when we swing by,” he laughed as they passed in front of them.

As he noticed that the human captain was looking at them, he waved at him as they intentionally missed the ship with a shot.

Almost an entire month had passed and the two captains were constantly taunting each other when they would send their crew on the same island. One time, it would be Rez’okun. The other, it would be Flynn. And it seemed that it would have no end. Every time, one of the ships would leave with it full of shiny rocks, the captain of said-ship would make sure the other would see them leaving. At some point, it was almost as if they weren’t keeping tracks on how many times each of them had won.

It had become personal. 

That day, as his crew consisted of the Greenbelly’s Raiders, Rez’okun was being confident that they would beat the Worgens’ crew of the Alliance. But at the same time, they were back to the same island as the first time the human taunted him, and once again, their ships were really close to each other and if they wanted, they could have probably directly talked to each other and either taunted even more, if not straight-up insulting, and no matter how much it was tempting him, Rez’okun decided to be the bigger person and not start any fights.

He only prayed to Gral that his crew would be the fastest just to erase that smug smile from the human’s face.

“Hey, buddy!” Shouted Flynn from his boat, leaning over the railing to make sure Rez’okun would hear him. “We’re already half full, sounds like another victory for us.”

Rez’okun laughed out loud as he walked towards the human, holding the communicator to his ear.

“Don’t be so sure about it, my crew is currently sending yours back to your boat with their tails between their legs,” retorted the troll.

“They will just move to another part of the island and collect the rest of the azerite, making your crew believe they won.”

“They won’t fall into such a simple stratagem.”

“So, it’s a bet?” smiled Flynn. “Alright, the loser pays the drinks tonight. I know a really good tavern in Freehold.”

“Prepare the golds, I won’t spend a copper for you.”

“Deal,” said Flynn, leaning dangerously over the boat, reaching his hands to the Zandalari to seal their bet.

Even if he was aware that it was a really bad idea, Rez’okun followed his example and leaned over his own railing until he could take the human’s hands and shake it. But as they glared at each other, they tried to pull the other off the rails discreetly until they both fell down from their ship.

“Thanks, buddy,” Flynn laughed as he brought the stein to his mouth, slapping Rez’okun’s back.

In the end, the Horde ended up losing, barely a few points behind the Alliance. But Rez’okun was a troll of his words and made his way to Freehold as the sun was setting to meet with Flynn. At first, he would have been a little more reticent to go back in Freehold as for the last years, it had been a real hellhole but apparently, some Alliance’s adventurers decided to go and clean everything and the little town was now a little better. As much as a pirate town could be.

And here he was, paying drinks for a human all because his crew couldn’t get more shiny rocks than his. The troll was highly considering to drop that one particular crew off an empty island the next time they would put a foot on his ship, but in the meantime, he had to deal with the noisy human.

“I don’t really understand all that faction war,” was explaining Flynn, not really caring whether Rez’okun was listening to him or not. “I mean…They’re always talking on how there’s some kind of big threatening problems out there, and then all they do is fighting each other…”

The troll began to laugh as he remembered the beginning of the conflict.

“A few months ago, I’ve been called to see King Rastakhan because he was needing me,” told Rez’okun. “I was already imagining myself sailing with troops to go and fight big battles…”

The troll made a break, smiling sadly while Flynn looked at him, a discreet movement of his hand to tell him to keep talking.

“And he told me I had to transport Horde’s members to go on islands and take back some azerite.”

“It’s kinda the inverse for me,” chuckled Flynn. “I asked to supervise those expeditions so I wouldn’t go and fight. Mostly because they would have needed to pay me way more if I went on a battleground.”

“And you’re getting paid too?!”

“I am first and foremost a mercenary,” proudly announced the human. “I might help sometimes because I own something to some people but most of the time, I’m not doing anything if I’m not paid... And you’re telling me you aren’t paid?!”

“I’m just serving my king.”

Flynn shook his head and put a hand on the troll’s shoulder, looking almost disappointed.

“Listen, buddy,” he started. “I don’t know how similar our job is but, if the people you’re dealing with are at least a quarter as strange as mine…Get paid.”

“Well…Most of them are quite enthusiast when they see that the Alliance is already on the island. The kind to go and ran away just to try and kill them.”

“At least, you’re not dealing with Void Elves. There’s one that spends all her time laughing and talking about whispers,” explained Flynn, shivering at those memories.

“I think I already heard her,” said Rez’okun as the laugh began to echo through his mind. “I understand better why you ask to be paid.”

“Especially when I can hear your crew of the day explaining how they plan to kill us, that’s scary.”

“That’s just Zar’ri,” laughed Rez’okun. “She really wants to live by their team names.”

“It almost making me think that I would pay to just put Lottie and that “Sneaky Pete” on the same island,” said Flynn as he chugged down his drink and asking for a new one. “I wonder how long it’ll take them to run into each other.”

“That’s…That’s actually a good question…I would give them one hour if we do tell them they had to find the enemy team and only do that, but maybe thirty minutes if they have to get the azerite too.”

“And I would bet they would actually bump into each other instead of one finding the other.”

“Make it five hours then,” chuckled Rez’okun.

They kept talking about their respective crew for hours, constantly asking for new drinks as soon as they were done with their current one, slowly but surely getting drunker as the hours passed. At some time, Flynn even insisted that despite the bet they made earlier that day, he would pay some of the drinks, crying that Rez’okun wasn’t getting paid to explain it.

“I think our boats are somewhere there,” said Flynn, pointing to the right, leaning against Rez’okun.

“Didn’t we already pass there?” asked the troll, barely holding up on his legs.

Flynn hummed out loud as he tried to think, his brain completely clouded by the alcohol as he tried to remember if they did already saw that rock before.

“Nah, it’s totally the right way, I know this place by heart!”

“You sure?” kept asking the troll, as drunk as the human, unable to remember why the way they were taking seemed wrong.

“Unless we’re meeting those lizards again, it means we’re on the right way!”

“There’s a lizard that’s looking at us right now,” pointed Rez’okun, showing the left road at the intersection.

“See, means that we have to go right!”

“Let’s go then,” muttered the Zandalari, only wishing he could at least get back on his boat to sleep.

Arm-in-arm, the two men began to walk away, following Flynn’s drunk instinct, not realizing they were going to walk in circles for the fifth time of the night since they left Freehold. They hadn’t remembered that their boats were in the harbor of the little town and they went right into the Wailing Tideway, stuck on the same path as none of them was able to think correctly. On their eighth turns, they finally crashed against some rocks and ended up sleeping next to each other, not caring anymore that they were completely lost.

“Reminds me to not listen to you next time,” groaned the Zandalari, as he felt a powerful headache starting.

“So, it means we’ll have a next time?” playfully asked Flynn before taking his face between his hands, letting out a little whimper of pain.

The rising sun had finally waking them and the alcohol had slowly faded, only leaving them completely hangover, realizing they had walked in circles all night and that they went in the opposite direction of where their ships were waiting for them.

“Only if you pay, as you are paid you,” retorted the troll, still a little salty that the human had made a point last evening.

“Deal!”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it !  
>  Tomorrow: We're going back to an old fic of mine that kinda promised a second part but that I never wrote x) Until now. Expect less fluff from Illidan and Maiev for the time of a story.
> 
> See you tomorrow and every day until Christmas with a new fic !
> 
> \----  
>  If you just want to talk about WoW, my fics, someone else fics or anything, you can still hit me up on Tumblr!
> 
> https://thewritingof-therose.tumblr.com/
> 
> or on Discord
> 
> The_Rose#2429 (My personal one)  
>  https://discord.gg/nvKggwc (An Illidan/Maiev Discord. Everyone welcome here! (Please tell me if the link doesn't work))
> 
> Later!


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